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Trailing 2-0 in the American League Division series, the New York Yankees are one loss away from their season finale, a situation Bernie Williams had been in during his playing days.
The Toronto Blue Jays demolished the Yankees in each of the Alds’ first two games up north, and the panic meter in the Bronx is high.
Williams found himself in a similar hole in 2001, as his dynastic Bronx Bombers aimed for a fourth consecutive World Series. Those Yankees lost the Alds’ first two games at home before winning the next two in Oakland against the Athletics and then winning Game 5 in the Bronx.
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Bernie Williams of the New York Yankees runs the bases during game two of the World Series against the San Diego Padres on October 18, 1998, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (Sports News via Getty Images via Getty Images)
The cliché may be having a short memory, but Williams has another piece of advice for the 2025 Yankees.
“You kind of want to forget about downtime, but at the same time, you want to keep it in your mind, because you don’t want to repeat it,” Williams told Pak Gazette Digital in a recent interview. “So I think there’s a little bit of a duality where you really think about how hard it is to lose the way they’ve lost the last two games, because one thing they’re losing, but they’re getting beat in two games, especially this time of year, you know, it’s a little embarrassing.”
However, there is a “clichéish” mentality that Williams wants the Yankees to live up to.
“You can’t really think about the future. Just be in the moment and take it literally one moment at a time, one at bat at a time, one pitch at a time, and in that moment, doing what you need to do at that particular moment, the future will take care of itself, because you’re doing the steps that are necessary for you to be successful,” Williams said. “And that’s the only thing you have to hang your hat on. You do everything in your power to make sure everything happens.
“If it doesn’t happen, you can always look in the mirror and say, ‘You know what, I did everything I could.’ And you know, that’s what you have to live with.
With the Yankees’ season at the Brink, manager Aaron Boone is once again at the forefront of Yankee fans’ fingers. But Williams knows Boone is in a much different environment than Joe Torre, who managed Williams for 11 seasons.
Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre (R) watches with current manager Aaron Boone before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on August 18, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Yankees legend Bernie Williams compares baseball and music careers as Carnegie Hall performance approaches.
“I think Joe Torre had a lot more say in choosing the team and choosing a lineup. I think Aaron Boone is working with a situation where you have a lot of people, or a lot of mathematicians, checking his analysis and coming up with some kind of lineup so that he is an educated guess, predicting the future outcome of a game that hasn’t happened yet in the previous performance,” according to Williams. “I think Aaron is playing at a different time.
“I think the front office itself is different, especially without Mr. [George] Steinbrenner, who was an ever-present presence and very influential in the decisions that were made. Very low patience, and wanted to shake things when they needed to be shaken. And I think the front office in this particular iteration of the club, they’re a little bit slower to make those changes. And I think they have to deal with that.”
However, Williams hinted that this Yankees team, better yet, the entire league, doesn’t put emphasis on “the little things in the game.”
“Moving runners, Bunting, playing strong defense. It didn’t hurt that we probably had the best guy in the game. They’re playing a different brand of baseball right now. And I think a lot of those teams that we’re playing against have taken this Yankees framework and taken it upon themselves to create teams that way. So, we’re basically fighting ourselves, all of these teams, because they’ve used the same process to put together their teams” Williams, “Williams,” Williams, “Williams,” whatever we basically go. Williams. “Williams,” Williams, “Williams,” Williams.” “And it’s hard to have a bull’s eye on your back and say, ‘I’m the team you have to beat.’ The Yankees have been that team for so many years.”
Williams admitted that his dynasty “spoiled” the Yankees fan base into thinking winning was “as easy as we made it,” but even with his back against the wall, the five-time All-Star feels this year’s team can make some magic happen starting at 8:08 PM et Tuesday.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) connects for a base hit against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of Game 1 of an American League wild-card baseball playoff series, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
“I think they have the amount of expectations that are expected of that team right now, because those guys in the ’90s did it, why can’t they do it? And I think not only the fans and the organization, but the players themselves have that burden and say, ‘You have to have this gorilla on your back, at least you get one,'” Williams said.
“Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, those guys are a generation ago now. But I still think they still have a great chance. They just have to keep doing the things they need to do to be successful and then get that little spark of luck. I mean, one game in this series can turn the tide, and we hope that game is a game. [Tuesday]”
